Parent Choices For Struggling Teens

Andy Sapp PhD, Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Founder of Cherry Gulch, Idaho, 208-365-3437, drsapp@cherrygulch.org, www.cherrygulch.org, a Therapeutic Boarding School for Boys Ages 10-14. Boys have always had challenges growing up, but our guest Andy Sapp emphasizes that the challenges boys are facing seem to be increasingly dangerous and more extensive. He asserts that a large part of this increase comes from an increasingly complex society that many boys are having trouble navigating, while the natural impulse of boys to be more active, impulsive and needing hands-on is creating more conflicts for them in our society. This segment was sponsored by Spring Ridge Academy, 928-632-4602, a Therapeutic Boarding School for Girls in Arizona.

Mary Romero, llcoachromero@yahoo.com, 804-651-4869, http://mmmcconnell.wix.com/live-life-coaching, Life Coach, Author and Child Advocate located in Virginia. Author of "The Breakdown of an All-American Family," Mary specializes in conflict resolution, juvenile/adult relationships and teaching her clients how to live in the here and now. Asserting the best way a parent can show their love for their child is by setting physical and emotional boundaries and maintain consistent follow-up. The consequences of not doing this can be an unhappy child who is seen by others as spoiled and a "brat." This segment was sponsored by Spring Ridge Academy, 928-632-4602, a Therapeutic Boarding School for Girls in Arizona.

Travis Slagle, traavis@PacificQuest.org, Land Supervisor and Katie Kasenchak, drkatie@PacificQuest.org Therapist, both at Pacific Quest in Hawaii, 808-937-5806 www.PacificQuest.org., an outdoor behavioral health program using the concept of Sustainable Growth (TM), developed by Pacific Quest, and Horticultural Therapy in healing young people with problems. Travis and Katie described how healing can occur using gardening as a focused activity to help children learn mindfulness, improve executive functioning, and becoming a part of a community and giving back to the community. They described how they use wilderness therapy concepts in removing young people from society's distraction and getting back in touch with nature, but modify the traditional wilderness therapy approach by using gardening in working with nature instead of the traditional approach they see as conquering and overcoming nature. This segment was sponsored by Spring Ridge Academy, 928-632-4602, a Therapeutic Boarding School for Girls in Ar

Scott Boice, Director of Counseling at Brandon Hall School, Atlanta Georgia, 770-394-8177, sboice@brandonhall.org, www.brandonhall.org, Brandon Hall School is a College Prep school for secondary students wanting or needing individualized attention. Preferring the term "Learning Challenges," Scott explained how the radical changes in our society children face like the growth of Social Media create special challenges for children with Learning Challenges. A lot of the discussion centered on how their parents need a lot of advice and help in order to properly understand when their children are "suffering in silence," and how to best help them. This segment was sponsored by Spring Ridge Academy, 928-632-4602, a Therapeutic Boarding School for Girls in Arizona.

Drew Brennan Ph.D., Head of School The Academy at Trails Carolina, North Carolina 888-387-2457, dbrennan@trailsacademy.com, has spent 20 years in counseling and education, mostly with young people. Dr. Brennan started with "the outlook is bleak and our boys are in crisis" and discussed some of the problems and reasons modern boys might be doing worse than past generations. He then talked about some of the things parents and teachers can do to help boys through these serious challenges to help them become successful and productive men. This segment was sponsored by Spring Ridge Academy, 928-632-4602, a Therapeutic Boarding School for Girls in Arizona.

Dr. Gregory Jantz, Founder of The Center for Counseling and Health Resources, in the Seattle area, Contact Ginny Grimsley, News and Experts, 727-443-7115 x101, ginny@newsandexperts.com a whole person residential healing center. He has authored numerous books, the latest being hooked - The pitfalls of media, technology, and social networking. Studies are revealing an inverse link with online connections and deeper, face-to-face relationships. Dr. Jantz discussed the increased power of electronic gadgets, i.e. technology, that are powerful and beneficial tools, but the danger is an over stimulated brain resulting in poor self regulating that shows symptoms similar to Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). This segment was sponsored by Spring Ridge Academy, 928-632-4602, a Therapeutic Boarding School for Girls in Arizona.

Sharon Murphy, 860-868-7377 x225, info@theglenholmeschool.org,Education Director of Glenholme School in Conneticut, a private boarding school for students with special needs such as anxiety disorders, Learning Differences/Disabilities or Aspergers syndrome. Murphy explained how Quantum Learning has a perspective on education that helped the school expand and improve the Character Education for struggling teens they have been doing for many years. She explained that part of what Quantum Learning does is focus on using multiple sensory techniques to match each child's learning strengths, and includes music during classes which enhances the learning experience and they also use it to help organize the students classroom activities.

Kevin Wing, 517-630-2307, wingk@starr.org, Director of Counseling With Montcalm School-MI, part of Starr Commonwealth, 866-244-4321, www.montcalmschool.org. a Coed Therapeutic Boarding School. Since the term "trauma" has entered pop culture and overused, Kevin took care to precisely define trauma as being a change in a person's behavior and attitudes that are self-defeating. He continued to describe some common transitions that can traumatize a child, and how parents can help a child who might have been traumatized by some event.

Guest: Chelsea Krost, NYC, Contact through Jennifer Thomas, 239-573-0088, jennifer@publicityresults.com. Chelsea is a 21-year-old writer, producer and TV and radio host giving young adults a forum to share their feelings. The interview, conducted by Lon Woodbury and co-host David Brinkman, focused on her perspectives as a spokesperson for the Millennial Generation and covered a wide range of topics including bullying and how social media and available technology has changed that, what are some of the results of a longer adolescence that extends into the twenties, and suggestions for parents and how parents and adolescents can better relate to each other. This segment was sponsored by Spring Ridge Academy, 928-632-4602, www.springridgeacademy.com, a Therapeutic Boarding School for Girls in Arizona.

Guest: David Brinkman, 208-610-5627, davidjbrinkman@yahoo.com, www.thebrinkmanhouse.com, Founder and Director of Brinkman House, a small relationship-based home for boys needing structure and minimal clinical intervention. The interview focused on how a Family Emerging model functions in a home away from home situation, the students they are best suited for and how the ability of the students to form positive relationships is built. This segment was sponsored by Spring Ridge Academy, 928-632-4602, www.springridgeacademy.com, a Therapeutic Boarding School for Girls in Arizona.

Dr. Daniel Villiers, 860-992-2453, dvilliers@mountainvalleytreatment.org, www.mountainvalleytreatment.org, Founder and Director of Admissions of Mountain Valley Treatment Center in New Hampshire. The discussion focused on the increase over the past decades in the percentage of adolescents suffering from anxiety, and especially the increase in the percentages of adolescents where their anxiety becomes a disorder needing treatment. Covered were how to tell when anxiety crossed the line to where the child needed professional treatment, some of the causes of increased adolescent anxiety in our society and methods used to treat anxiety. This segment was sponsored by Spring Ridge Academy, 928-632-4602, www.springridgeacademy.com, a Therapeutic Boarding School for Girls in Arizona.

Guests: Mike Petree, CEO of Outcome Tools, a web-based research system, and Michael Gass, Professor at the University of New Hampshire and Director of two adventure therapy initiatives for the National Association of Therapeutic Schools and Programs (NATSAP) and the Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare Research Consortium (OBHRC). Mike and Michael discussed the how they are learning about what works best with struggling teens from the research initiative using the well regarded Youth Outcome Questionnaire (YOQ) administered by NATSAP programs, and warnings of what can and cannot be learned from them. This segment was sponsored by Spring Ridge Academy, 928-632-4602, www.springridgeacademy.com, a Therapeutic Boarding School for Girls in Arizona.

Guest: Brooks Witter, Senior Therapist at Living Well Transitions-CO for Young Adults 18-30. Brooks explained how he was attracted to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) because it avoids the popular cultural perspective that all people should be happy all the time, and instead helps clients focus on and work through identifying and achieving their values even when that might cause some temporary discomfort. This segment was sponsored by Spring Ridge Academy, 928-632-4602, www.springridgeacademy.com, a Therapeutic Boarding School for Girls in Arizona.

Guest: David Hirshberg, Ex. Dir. of Germaine Lawrence in Boston, a Residential Treatment Center for girls. Hirshberg earned his Doctorate in Education at Harvard School of Education and has been working with adolescents for years. Hirshberg asserts that Eating disorders such as Anorexia have become epidemic in our country, and that Aneorexia is one of the most life-threatening mental disorders. The discussion explained what eating disorders are, how they differ from the more common obesity and over-concern with diet; how teens develop serious eating disorders and how treatment is approached to redevelop healthy eating habits despite the obsessive of serious eating disorders. This segment was sponsored by Spring Ridge Academy, 928-632-4602, www.springridgeacademy.com, a Therapeutic Boarding School for Girls in Arizona.

Guest: Dr. Wes Crenshaw, PhD, Family Psychologist and author of Dear Dr. Wes-Real Life Advice For Teens and Real Life Advice for Parents of Teens, http://www.dr-wes.com, (or Contact agent Julia Wouk, JWouk@boothmedia.com). With co-host Larry Stednitz, PhD, 805-772-4311, larry@woodbury.com. A wide ranging one hour discussion which included the most important thing parents must practice when confronted with an angry adolescent, who can benefit most from a Gap year and changes in teen culture in the last generation which include changes in dating, use of technology and bullying. This segment was sponsored by Spring Ridge Academy, 928-632-4602, www.springridgeacademy.com, a Therapeutic Boarding School for Girls in Arizona.

Guests: Heather Tracy, Ex. Dir. and Co-Founder New Summit Academy, Costa Rica, Karen Nelson, Ex. Dir. and Clinical Dir. of Coral Reef Academy, Samoa, and Bryan Marks, Intake Coordinator and Admissions and a former student at Coral Reef Academy, Samoa. The discussion ranged from the advantages of cultural immersion in a therapeutic environment abroad, to concerns of how risks are minimized, and the specifics parents should do to make a placement with a successful outcome. This segment was sponsored by Spring Ridge Academy, 928-632-4602, www.springridgeacademy.com, a Therapeutic Boarding School for Girls in Arizona.

Guest: Detective Rich Wistocki, 630-461-0044, www.besureconsulting.com, Naperville, IL, Founder of Be-Sure Consulting and member of the Internet Crimes Unit. With 20 years in law enforcement with a major focus on online criminal behavior, Detective Wistocki talked about the various criminal behavior on the Internet from Bullying to Sex Trafficking, and numerous scams in between that children are susceptible to. He regularly makes presentations to groups of parents, teachers and kids, and shared on this show what signs parents and teachers should look for to indicate a problem, and methods to actively be responsible regarding the children's online behavior.

Guest: Rob Nielson, 435-353-4498, robn@ubtanet.com, Founder of Cedar Ridge Academy, a therapeutic boarding school in Utah. Rob talks about how his interest in Karate, hypnotherapy and teens with emotional and behavioral problems led him to establish Cedar Ridge Academy 16 years ago, a therapeutic boarding school that integrated structure, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Karate, and Hypnotherapy to help young people become aware of old emotional wounds and learn how to control them by substituting positive thinking.

Guest: Allen Cardoza, 800-899-8585, allen@transportingteens.com, www.answers4thefamily.com, Founder of West Shield Adolescent Services, West Shield Investigations and Host of LA Talk Radio show - Answers for the Family. Allen recalls his early career experience as a 19-year-old discovering a runaway girl being exploited by the sex trade in this country. He then explains how his business is involved in transporting teens to and from schools and programs, busting sex trade operations, and recovering abducted children. This was the second part of a two hour session where Allen and Lon traded places in the one hour break point and interviewed each other. This segment was sponsored by Spring Ridge Academy, 928-632-4602, www.springridgeacademy.com, a Therapeutic Boarding School for Girls in Arizona.

Guest: Will White, 207-697-2020, will@summitachievement.com, www.summitachievement.com, Co-Founder and Clinical Director of Summit Achievement in Maine, and writer of a doctoral dissertation on the Evolution of Wilderness Therapy. Will traces the various origins of wilderness therapy, starting with a New England summer camp founded in the 1880s, the Salesmanship Club of Dallas founded in 1944, modifications from the Boy Scouts and Outward Bound. and early experiments in primitive survival skills by Larry Dean Olsen and Ezekial Sanchez at Brigham Young University in the early 1970s. He chacterized the early pioneer Larry Wells in the 1970s as the "Johnny Appleseed" of modern wilderness therapy since he was a key consultant to the development of many of the successful and leading early wilderness therapy programs. This show was sponsored by Spring Ridge Academy 928-632-4602, www.springridgeacademy.com, a Therapeutic Boarding School for Girls in Arizona.